Due to changes in 1884 and 1885, the remaining county constituencies have become almost equal in status to borough constituencies, only differing by a small amount as to election expenses and their type of returning officer.

The term is now used informally for senior members of the Conservative party who are English and Welshmembers of parliament for rural rather than urban constituencies and who have never held a senior government post.[1]

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The precursor to the English parliamentary system was a Magnum Concilium or great council, as the verb 'to counsel' and (name then), implied advice chamber, to the King, consisting of peers, ecclesiastics and Knights of the Shire (two were summoned by the King from each county). In 1264 this council evolved to include representatives from the boroughs (burgesses) and require that all members be elected (de Montfort's Parliament). The parliament gained legislative powers in 1295 (the Model Parliament). In the following century Edward III split parliament into its current format of two houses——the House of Commons and the House of Lords, in 1341. It opted in 1376 to appoint Sir Peter de la Mare to convey to the Lords unified complaints of heavy taxes, demands for an accounting of the royal expenditures, and criticism of the King's management of the military. Although de la Mare was imprisoned for his actions, the benefits of having a single voice to represent the Commons were recognised, and an office of Speaker of the House of Commons was created.[2][3] Mare was soon released after the death of Edward III and became the Speaker of the House again in 1377.

Until legislation in 1430 the franchise (electorate) for elections of knights of the shire was not restricted to forty shilling freeholders.

Historian, Prof. Seymour, discussing the original county franchise, suggested "it is probable that all free inhabitant householders voted and that the parliamentary qualification was, like that which compelled attendance in the county court, merely a "resiance" or residence qualification". He goes on to explain why Parliament decided to legislate about the county franchise. "The Act of 1430, after declaring that elections had been crowded by many persons of low estate, and that confusion had thereby resulted, accordingly enacted that the suffrage should be limited to persons qualified by a freehold of 40s".

The Parliament of England legislated the new uniform county franchise, in the statute 8 Henry VI, c. 7. However the Chronological Table of the Statutes does not mention such a 1430 Act, as it was included in the Consolidated Statutes as a recital in the Electors of Knights of the Shire Act 1432 (10 Henry VI, c. 2), which amended and re-enacted the 1430 law to make clear that the resident of a county had to have a forty shilling freehold in that county to be a voter there.

Over the course of time a great number of different types of property were accepted as being forty shilling freeholds and the residence requirement disappeared.

Until the Great Reform Act of 1832, each county continued to send two Knights (apart from Yorkshire, which had its number of Knights increased to four in 1826). How these knights were chosen varied from one county to the next and evolved over time. The 1832 Act increased the number of Knights sent by some populous counties to as many as six.